Kristiina Wheeler (born in 1983, Hitchin, United Kingdom) is a Finnish singer-songwriter. She became known in 2005 when she sang on the soundtrack of a Finnish movie “Tyttö sinä olet tähti” (Girl you’re a star) with the song You’ll Be Gone. In 2008 she released the first single Sunny Day from her debut album Hitchin to Helsinki. Following singles were Annie And I, Rainy Helsinki and Wrong. In 2010 she released her first Finnish single called Kiitos kun muistit (Thank’s for remebering) which also served as the theme song for the movie “Napapiirin sankarit” (Heroes of the Arctic Circle). Next single from her sophomore album is Ihanaa (Wonderful) which was released in May 2011.
The story: Although still a fairly unknown artist to the public, Kristiina Wheeler is an experienced musician. Half English half Finnish, Kristiina was born in Hitchin and moved to Tampere when she was 6 years old. She took piano and guitar lessons but later on found song writing and solo singing more her scene through listening to the Jagged Little Pill-album by Alanis Morissette.
High school band gigs took her to the stage and introduced her to the representatives of record companies and ended up singing on a track that was featured in the movie Tyttö Sinä Olet Tähti co-written with Jukka Immonen and Patrick Sarin. Through Immonen Kristiina got asked to record demo vocals at song writing camps organized for professional writers. As well as these songs Kristiina has also recorded demo songs made by Rake Eskolin and Teemu Brunila. This bilingual artist has herself written English lyrics for other artists. Her texts have ended up in songs composed by Idols judge Patric Sarin and for songs sung by Anna Abreu for instance.
Recording for the movie Tyttö sinä olet tähti Kristiina met up with Chisu who herself had just completed her debut album and who has in turn made songs for Antti Tuisku and Tarja Turunen. This dynamic duo made their first song together and decided to join forces and work on Kristiina’s first solo album.
Chisu’s home and summer house were the venues where Kristiina and Chisu spent 18 months working on Kristiina’s album. As a result of these sessions the album contains ‘lollypop’ music which reflects Kristiina’s love for soul and funk music and Chisu’s love for movie melodies and the world of electro.
The first single Sunny Day from this album was accompanied by a music video which also revealed the skilful dance moves by Tommi Korpela, a well-known Finnish actor. Sunny Day has since been on the air daily and thanks to the national radio stations the song reached 6th place on the local radio station hit list in the summer. Kristiina’s second single, Annie and I was also then released and the album Hitchin To Helsinki was released in the end of October 2008.
Kristiina is looking forward to begin her live shows with her funky band. “If the studio is Chisu’s kingdom, the stage is definitely mine”, says the bubbly singer.
